Cops use stun gun; arrest family

Keila Torres Ocasio

Updated 11:55 pm, Thursday, January 31, 2013

Horace and Margaret Jennings stand with their three sons, (l-r) Eric, Dennis and Bernard outside their house on Pleasant Street, in Bridgeport, Conn., Jan. 31st, 2013. The Jennings have filed a complaint following an incident last week when Horace Jennings was tasered by Bridgeport Police officers outside the family home. All five of the Jennings were arrested during the incident.
Photo: Ned Gerard

Horace Jennings, seen here in his Bridgeport, Conn. home Jan. 31st, 2013, describes being tasered by Bridgeport during an incident last week. Jennnings was arrested along with his wife Margaret, seen here, and three sons during the incident. The family has filed a complaint.
Photo: Ned Gerard

BRIDGEPORT -- A family of five has filed a complaint with the city's Office of Internal Affairs after a brawl with police that resulted in the 52-year-old father getting shot with a stun gun and police kicking down doors to arrest the entire family.

The incident at the East Side home occurred the same week a YouTube video surfaced of Bridgeport police officers kicking and stomping a man in Beardsley Park after he was shot with an electric stun gun. The man, Orlando Lopez-Soto, had allegedly led police on a high-speed chase to the park. There is no mention in the police report of the beating by the officers and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has called for their arrest.

What happened on the night the East Side family was arrested depends on who is telling the story -- the family or police. But the city is conducting an internal investigation into the case, according to Mayor Bill Finch's office.

Nobody agrees on the reasons why what seemed like a routine stop ended with an emergency room visit for the family patriarch, a scramble to the scene by dozens of police officers and a trip to jail.

The incident began after brothers Dennis and Eric Jennings went outside in the frigid temperatures for a cigarette break at their parents' Pleasant Street home Jan. 23, and Police Officers David Rivera and John Carrano drove by and told them to stop hanging out.

Horace Jennings, the father, said the officers only stopped and approached the men because they were black males standing in a neighborhood plagued with crime and drug dealing. But police said they pulled over to tell the Jennings to move along and stop "blocking free passage on the sidewalk."

In their account of the fracas, the family claims Rivera and Carrano were hostile from the moment they approached Bernard, 29, Dennis, 27, and Eric, 23, and ordered them off the sidewalk.

But in his report, Rivera said Dennis Jennings cursed at the officers when they asked them to move.

The officers grabbed Dennis, who was already inside the gated property by that point, when he moved toward the home and refused to approach them when asked, police said.

This prompted the family members to come out of the house cursing and yelling, and the officers to call for backup, police said. Then, as Rivera apprehended Dennis, Eric Jennings ran inside to get his parents.

At that point, Horace Jennings was shot at close range in the back by Sgt. Sean Lynch with a stun gun after police said he grabbed Rivera's shoulder and reached for the electric gun in the officer's holster.

Horace, who works for the state Department of Motor Vehicles, said he didn't see the police report until Thursday afternoon; he said he was outraged he was accused of grabbing a police officer.

He said the lies in the report are the reason minorities in Bridgeport don't talk to police.

"The same ones supposed to be protecting you are no good," he said. "When it comes to white people, it's protect and serve. But when it comes to blacks and Hispanics, it's track and hunt."

Eric Jennings said when he saw his father lying on the ground, he called 911.

"Bernard said to me, `Why are you calling the police? They're the ones out there,' " he said. "And I said, `Yeah we need a new batch.' "

Police said they arrested Margaret Jennings -- the mother -- for taking items out of her husband's pockets despite police protests. She said she was searching for her husband's keys because by then there were dozens of officers at the scene and they were threatening to break down her front door.

She claimed she was arrested for looking defiantly at Rivera when the officer who had used the stun gun on her husband asked his fellow officer, "He tried to grab you, right?"

"The officer couldn't lie because I was looking him right in the face," she said. "Next thing I knew, I was handcuffed, going to a police car and thinking, `Is this really happening to me?' "

Meanwhile, police said Eric Jennings, who they knew had a valid pistol permit, yelled threats at police from inside the family home.

Concerned about the gun, which was never displayed, police said they had to kick in two doors to gain entry.

Police knew the young man had the permit because he was pulled over recently when the vehicle he was a passenger in was stopped because it matched the description of one involved in a shooting, police said.

At the time, Eric's friend, nicknamed "Coco," was arrested in connection with the shooting.

Police said they found Eric Jennings' gun in plain view.

Eric denied ever threatening police or leaving his gun out in the open.

All family members were charged with breach of peace and interfering with an officer. Eric Jennings was also charged with unsafe storage of a firearm and threatening in the first degree.

The Jennings first contacted city officials about the incident by email and fax.

"As soon as Mayor (Bill) Finch received Mr. Jennings' communication on Jan. 28, he immediately ordered our Office of Internal Affairs to reach out to Mr. Jennings to investigate his complaint," said mayoral spokeswoman Elaine Ficarra.

"We would urge any member of the public who has a complaint against an officer(s), such as misfeasance, malfeasances, excessive force, or police misconduct, to utilize the Citizens Complaint process so that the Office of Internal Affairs can initiate an investigation in a timely and thorough manner," Ficcarra said. "Our officers are held to high standards, and the Office of Internal Affairs is in place to provide an avenue to investigate both internal and citizen complaints."

Later that day, the couple filled out an official form through the city's Citizens Complaint process.

The state branch of the NAACP is aware of the case and is considering pressuring city officials to take action, especially in light of the Beardsley Park attack, said the group's president, Scot X. Esdaile.

Lopez-Soto, the victim in the Beardsley Park beating, filed a $1 million lawsuit in federal court on Monday.